Browns: 4 players to keep and 4 players to cut after preseason ends
By Chad Porto
Cut #1 – DE Curtis Weaver
For someone who fans are over the moon about, it’s sure hard to watch him play and assume he’s actually an NFL player. One of the earliest things defensive players are taught, going all the way back to middle school is the idea of a pursuit angle. It’s the idea that you pick a point ahead of a ball carrier and sprint to that point, hoping to be fast enough to intersect with the player running the ball.
Watching Weaver play, you’d think he was trying to impersonate Julius Campbell, chasing down a ball carrier from behind, because that was the only time you saw Weaver in action tonight; when he was chasing down someone that just zipped right by him.
His footwork is also suspect. He had a Falcon’s ball-carrier dead to rights in the first half and was right on top of him when it was 3rd and 2nd, but Weaver whiffed, and the runner got the first down.
Against the Falcons he had just three tackles, none for a loss, and no quarterback sacks. In fact, he didn’t even touch the quarterback, closing out a widely disappointing preseason for Weaver. A preseason he needed to impress the coaches. With Jadeveon Clowney, Myles Garrett, and Porter Gustin all being assumed to have made the team, Weaver had to show that he deserved a spot but he should get beat out by the next name on this list.